Story: I pulled into work today and noticed there was steam coming from the front of my engine, I opened the hood, and the steam was coming from this: (which I believe to be an AC line, correct me if I'm wrong.)



The steam smelt very rich, almost like maple syrup.

My A/C hasn't worked for YEARS, ever since my grandpa crashed the car causing damage to the passenger side headlight, brought it to a crappy repair shop, they didn't attach the wiring harness under the fender skirt correctly, so one day the fender skirt fell off and all the wires got shredded to pieces with it, NIGHTMARE.

Anyway, is this going to be a cheap, easy fix? Or do I have to flush all the fluids out and replace the thermostat. Because what I've read online has lead me to believe that. Thank you for reading my post, someone please help!

 

It sounds like you have a coolant leak. Verify that is coolant on the cross beam.

What you should do is find where the leak is coming from and fix it. Some parts stores will loan a radiator pressure tester. You want to fill up the radiator (you can use water for the test) and pump up the pressure to about 16 psi. Then try to find the leak(s).

If you have to drain the system, you might as well install a new thermostat. I recommend one from the dealership.

I don't think that you will have to flush the system. Just drain the remaining coolant, fix the leak(s), then refill and properly bleed the air from the system. There is an excellent ericthecarguy video on how to do properly fill and bleed the air from the system that you should search for and watch.

EDIT: There is also an ericthecarguy video on finding the cause for overheating that shows how to pressure test the system.